"Objection Not Allowed When Paying Fines"... Recommendation to Formalize Guidance to Local Governments

Some Departments Unaware of 'Enforcement Decree Amendment'

A decision has been made that if an administrative agency fails to inform that objections cannot be made when a fine is paid after prior notice of the fine disposition, the agency must cancel the fine disposition ex officio.

Kim Tae-gyu, Vice Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 14th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission recommended seven local governments to correct the issue by ex officio canceling fine dispositions that did not inform the essential notice required by law during prior notification?that objections cannot be made if the reduced fine is paid within the opinion submission deadline?due to procedural defects.

Mr. A, a licensed real estate agent, received a prior notice of a fine disposition of 2.5 million won from City B for violating the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act. The prior notice stated that if the fine is voluntarily paid within the opinion submission deadline, up to a 20% reduction could be applied, so Mr. A voluntarily paid the reduced fine of 2 million won within the deadline to receive the reduction.

Mr. A learned that if he objected to the fine disposition, he could receive a fine trial, and he intended to object to receive the trial. However, he was told that objections cannot be made if the reduced fine was paid within the opinion submission deadline, so he could not file an objection.

Mr. A filed a grievance complaint with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, arguing that it was illegal to inform only that the fine could be reduced if paid within the opinion submission deadline during the prior notice of the fine disposition, but not to inform that objections cannot be made if the reduced fine is paid.

The Commission’s investigation found that some local governments did not recognize the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Regulation of Violations of Public Order and thus failed to inform that objections cannot be made if the fine is paid during the prior notice of the fine disposition.

Kim Taegyu, Vice Chairman of the Commission, said, “In cases of dispositions with procedural illegality, it is consistent with the principle of rule-of-law administration for administrative agencies to cancel them on their own to resolve the illegality,” and added, “We will continue to actively recommend corrections for illegal or unfair dispositions to ensure that the rights and interests of the people are not infringed.”